[1] The Chinese seem everywhere to preserve the same characteristics. The British Consul-General of Borneo writes to me:—“Chinese settlers cannot flourish under Malay rule. We have a few hundreds, but the country would absorb hundreds of thousands. In the interior I found among the aborigines a lively remembrance of the former Chinese pepper-growers; they have been all destroyed or driven away by civil dissensions. There remain a few of their descendants, who speak the language of their fathers, but they are not distinguishable from the natives. A Chinese merchant was speaking disparagingly of one of the chiefs, who turned round, and, much to the astonishment of the Chinaman, accosted him in very tolerable Fokien. The little pepper-growing that remains is partly conducted by the mixed races. The produce is slightly increasing, and a few Chinese with native wives are beginning to try it again.” [↑]
[2] Both gael and sapaha are terms probably introduced by traders with China. Tael and sapeque are the names given by Europeans to the liang and tsien of the Chinese, the silver ounce and its thousandth part. [↑]
CHAPTER VII.
MANNERS AND SUPERSTITIONS OF THE PEOPLE.
Far more than the fair portion of domestic and social cares falls upon the Indian female, and she has far less than her becoming share of enjoyments. Barbarous practices are frequently associated with parturition. The Mabuting hilot, the good midwife, is called in. If the birth be delayed, witches are supposed to be the cause, and their dispersion is effected by the explosion of gunpowder from a bamboo cane close to the head of the sufferer. The new-born infant is laid on a mat or pillow and exposed to the air, to facilitate the escape of evil influences from the body, which is brought about by burning three wax tapers placed on the two cheeks and chin of the babe, often to its great peril. These practices are to some extent checked and controlled by the priests, who provide where they can for the baptism and registration of the infant.
The patriarchal custom of serving in the house of the father in order to obtain the hand and heart of the daughter, is by no means abolished in the Philippines; nor is the yet more intimate intercourse of plighted lovers, which is reported to be still in usage in the ruder parts of Wales, and with the same perilous consequences to the feebler sex. The domestication of the lover in the house of his intended father-in-law leads to the birth of great numbers of illegitimate children, to frequent violations of vows and promises, to domestic quarrels and much misery. The influence of the friars is generally employed for the protection of the frail one. They are opposed both by duty and interest to these irregularities, matrimonial fees being among the most productive contributions to their revenues.
I find one of the priests giving the following instructions to the Indians as to marriage:—“It is not right,” he says, “to marry heedlessly, nor to hurry the sacred ceremony as if it were to be got rid of as soon as possible. Let the parties consult the padre, who will learn if they are really disposed to marry. You Indians say the male naturally runs after the female and obtains her consent (an Indian proverb); but this is not decorous; the proper mode of courting is for the priest to say, ‘Will you be the spouse of ——, according to the arrangements of our holy mother Church?’ This is first to be asked of the woman, and then an inquiry is to be made of the man whether he will have the woman, and the ancient and immodest usages of past times must then be abandoned.” In the same spirit is the common saying of the Indians, “Savangmatovir ang ihinahatol nang mañga padre” (The counsels of the padre are always right). And again—“There is no Christian road but through the Roman Catholic Church.”
F. de los Santos says there is no instance of a Tagála woman making advances in the way of marriage, nor of a father or mother looking out a bridegroom for their daughter; that it would be a great affront were any girl to seek the favour of the person whom she wished to be her mother-in-law in order to win the son. No woman was ever heard to say, “Manciganguin mo aco” (Make me thy daughter-in-law).